“Often, the best way to get on a board is to be recommended by someone who is already on it,” she said. “Look, this is Jersey, right? It’s six degrees of separation. It’s not that hard to find a connection. You may have to dig a little bit, but I guarantee you … there is a connection.”

Cold-calling, on the other hand, doesn’t always work as well.

Volunteering, though, goes a long way.

Especially if you engage with the board or actively seek out board members while you’re doing so, according to Sherise Ritter, principal at The Mercadien Group.

But some of the women attending the event Friday at the DoubleTree hotel said they still run into problems finding candidates for their boards.

Either there are no interested parties, or there is no room on the board with members who have served for decades and are uninterested in leaving.